When data edited, displayed, or the like in an application is printed using a printer, printing is generally performed through a printer driver corresponding to the printer. At this time, in order to obtain a printout of a size desired by a user from the printer, the user needs to appropriately set the application and the printer driver to perform printing. Here, many general-purpose applications have been created based on the assumption of cut form sheets (cut paper), and paper sizes that can be set in the applications often have maximum values. Thus, in order to obtain a printout of an output size larger than such a maximum paper size, a user has obtained a printout of the desired size through the following series of operations: (1) calculating a paper size that has the same ratio as the output size and that can be set in the application; (2) setting the paper size in the application; and (3) performing scaling setting for the printer driver from the paper size to the output size.
Meanwhile, there are a large number of applications, for which means for extending functionality have been made public. Examples of the applications include the Microsoft Office (Microsoft Corporation, USA), the Microsoft Internet Explorer (Microsoft Corporation, USA), and the Netscape Navigator (Netscape Communications Corporation, USA). These applications can provide users with an additional function by registering an additional program in accordance with the publicly available means. Then, such an additional program (software program for adding a function) for providing an additional function to an application is generally called a plug-in. A plug-in may be hereinafter referred to as a plug-in software program, plug-in software, or a plug-in program.
Several pieces of conventional art for extending functionality of an application using a plug-in have been proposed (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-216366). This conventional art document discloses a plug-in for providing a function for making a print preview.
However, conventional plug-in techniques have problems as follows.
First, in order to obtain a printout of a size larger than the maximum paper size of an application, as described above, it is necessary to perform many procedures. There are problems in that cumbersome operations are required and that therefore labor and time are required to obtain a printout of the desired size.
Furthermore, maximum paper sizes differ from application to application. For example, a size of about 55 cm×55 cm is set in the Microsoft Word, and about 1.3 m×1.3 m in the Microsoft PowerPoint. Therefore, a user needs to take the characteristics (maximum paper sizes) of applications into consideration when calculating a paper size, resulting in a problem in that a high level of knowledge and more complex procedures are required.
The problems as described above arise particularly in performing printing at a large size, such as printing of long rolls of paper or printing of banners, using a printer such as a large format printer. The problems are very high hurdles to overcome when a user performs printing at a large size using a general-purpose application.